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With an outstanding ensemble of British actors, accompanied by live music, Sulayman Al-Bassam Theatre presents a powerful and poetically charged new drama exploring religion and politics in today's Middle East. Part political fable, part historical epic, the play unfolds in Iraq circa 750 AD when expanding Empire, pre-emptive strikes and the savage threat of civil war made it an age with all too many parallels to our own . In the midst of this turmoil a court scribe, wit and radical reformer, Abdullah Ibn Al-Muqaffa, wrote one of the most enduring pieces of literature in the world. The animal fables of "Kalila wa Dimna" were originally intended as counsel for Rulers and retain to this day immense significance across the Arab, Indian and Persian worlds. The drama focuses on the tragic events that unfold around the writer of the tales as he battles for both love and reform in the midst of fervent revolutionaries, heretic poets, religious propagandists, and a ruler who names himself none other than 'God’s shadow on earth'. Intended originally as a book of Counsel for Kings, literally a "mirror" for princes, these subtle and philosophical animal fables carried and continue to carry immense allegorical significance to all sectors of Arab and Persian society. Originating in India, the stories travelled to Persia before reaching the Arab world where the pen of Ibn Al-Muqaffa, court scribe, wit and radical reformer, turned them into political dynamite - an act that was to cost him his life.

The Mirror For Princes; Kalila wa Dimna, was originally commissioned by Sheikha Husa Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the Director of Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah (The Islamic Arts Museum, Kuwait) in 2004. The aim of this commission was to introduce the world of the fables and the rich period of Arab-Islamic history in which they were written to a wider, international audience.

The project was developed over several phases combining processes of research, writing and workshops. Phase 1 of the process culminated in a workshop production performed by a team of British actors that was presented in both London and Kuwait in May 2005.

As a result of this workshop, the production was championed by bite06 and The Tokyo International Arts Festival in addition to the original commissioning body and the The Foreign Media Department, The Ministry of Information, Kuwait.

In its current (2006) tour, this production will perform in Kuwait, Bahrain, Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto), Sharjah (U.A.E), and the UK (London and Oxford).

“the resonances emerge powerfully…..its eloquence is visceral and visual“
The Times

“the show finds its voice in swirling images, a brilliant mix of video and eerie soundscape, and a use of the space that makes it feel as if the whole production is bleeding at the edges“
The Guardian

Written and directed by Sulayman Al-Bassam, designed by Julia Bardsley and performed in English with live musical accompaniment composed by Lewis Gibson, the play is both a timely investigation into the mechanisms of Empire and a passionate argument for cultural and religious tolerance in the modern Arab and Western worlds.

Written by: Sulayman Al-Bassam